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~~: Oklahoma ~1riters‘ Project	~	419





about fifteen years old.. Old. Master bought a tavern and mammy worked as house woman and I went to work at the stables. I d.rove the carriage and. took keer of the team and. carriage. I kept tem shining too. I‘d. curry the horses ‘Mil they was ~ slick and. shiny. I ‚ d. poli sh the harness and the carriage . Old. Mas ter and Mistress was quality and I wanted everybody to know it. They lad three ~ir1s and~ three boys and we boys played. together and. went swimming together. ~7e loved each other, I tell ye.

	Old. Master built us a little house jest back of d.e tavern and. mammy raised us jest like Old. Mistress d11 her chillun. Then I did.ntt have to work

tie boys and. me would go hunting. VTe‘d. kill possum, coon, scuirrels and. wild.

hogs. Old~ Master killed. a vrilcl hog and. he give mammy her ten tiny pigs. She raised ~em and my, at the meat vie had. when they was butchered..

	They had. lots of company at de Big House, and. it was de only tavern too ‚ so they was la ts of cooking to d.c . They would. go to church on Sunday and. they would. spread their dinners on the ground. My, but they was feasts. Wetd. allus git to go as I d.rive the carriage and. mammy looked. after the food. Vie had. our own church too, with our own preacher.


L	Vie had. a spinning house where all the old. women would card and. spin ‚ wool in de winter and. cotton in de summer. Dey made all our clothes, what few

	we wore. Us boys just wore long tailed. shirts ttill we was 12 or 13 years old., sometimes older. I was 15 when I started. driving the fa~ibly carriage and.
:	~ go t to put on pant s then.

: ‚	Our suits was mad.e out of jeans.‘ That cloth wore like buckskin.

~	We‘d. wear ‘em for a year before they had. to be patched..

	~	We made our own brogan shoes too. Wetd. kill a beef and. skin it and. spread. the skin. out and. let it &ry a while. We1d. put the hid.G in lime

to get the hair off, thex~ we‘d. oil i.t and. work it ~ till it was sofib.